Surely if the dog is that awful, the placing should be withheld?

Personally I'd prefer the competition, but there's not a lot you can do if no one else enters is there?

So have I.
Even at a few Royals which are big ones here, to be able to brag that you got a CC or even better BOB at a Royal is something to be proud of. So you really hear the screams if for what ever reason the judge withholds a CC

At a recent Champ show here, both Bitch awards were withheld so no ticket or Reserve...... the dogs were ok but the puppy got the reserve (I think) there were only two dogs out of the whole entry that had the necessary grading.
The lesson? Don't take an Irish Dalmatian to Finland (Finnish judge)

Yes at a Ch show they would be withheld. However, I'm not sure I'd withhold at an Open show for anything other than aggression or illness (unless the dog was REALLY bad!), so therefore you have to write a critique. I'm not one for the 'nice head, moved well' type of crit because that means nothing and the judge may as well not bother, so it means trying put across that the dog isn't up to standard but in a nice way - no point in being rude.

Debs

If a 1st place is awarded at an Open show, and it is a class of one, does that win count towards your total wins when considering whether you can enter a particular class or not? ie: Novice, my friend thinks not, but I am not sure!

It would still be classed as a win, I don't think there is a requirement for the number of dogs in a class but you wouldn't get any JW or ShCM points as I'm pretty certain you have to have competion for that.
Have heard one breeder persuaded all her pet puppy buyers to bring their dogs to a show so that the numbers were made up to get her points and guess what happened, yep, the pet puppies won lol!
Becky

That's very good.

I was on a committee and that night had dinner with the judges I had ask one Judge why she didn't nil award three bitches and this was a champ show, and her replied shocked me. She had picked the best of the worst, I would rather have a judge nil award then say that

Well I have always included it and would say that it does count! Not sure there is a rule anywhere saying that 1st place provided that min. of 3 dogs in the class. The exceptions are in min. puppy/puppy classes that these aren't included in counts to be out of novice.

!st place does count for winning out of classes, even if alone. Doesn't count towards points though.